Bahamut Prime Phase 3: ZOO

Divebombs + Megaflare can potentially be a roadbloack for many groups. Just takes a bit of practice! So how does this junk work?

A RED RETICLE appears first. This signals the direction from which Bahamut will dive. Shortly after, a GREEN RETICLE appears on another person. This signals where “Twintania” will dive from. This is like t5 DB’s where the ORIGINAL LOCATION of the marked person will be where the dive happens (unlike T9 – point of expiry is dive location). To reduce randomness, the idea is have both dragons dive straight down the middle, forming some kind of X. The RED divebome will come first, shortly followed by the green.

To make matters worse, Megaflare follows right after. Any person hit by divebombs and NOT DIE TO THE WALL, will likely die from megaflare damage. Handle this like you’ve handled all megaflares. Unlike previous megaflares, there are always only two “friends”. Don’t just sit in the middle if your friend appears late – actively finding your friend and walking to them will reduce some wipes. Here’s the general idea:

I wish I could advise you of some magic bullet that solves DB’s. As of right now this is the best way I know of, and only experience will help your raid get past this. This can be frustrating given the difficulty to reach this phase, especially for newer groups.

Zoo beastiary, abilities and spawn order:

For the sake of sanity (what we, and I imagine many do) we refer to the adds with nicknames. If you have to ask which one is which… we have a problem.

RED (Blood of Meracydia): Has a frontal cleave, and a tailswipe. Deals massive damage. Do not bring near MOSQUITO or else will get a hp+ and damage+ buff.

“Twintania” (Storm of Meracydia): Nicknamed Twintania because it does Death Sentence and hits really hard. Also drops Neurolink on death – used to survive Teraflare.

Let’s begin with a Zoo Summary:

Divebombs, Megaflare

Green+Red (1)(2)

3x Mosquito (1)

2x Blue (1)(2)

Divebombs, Megaflare

Twintania (2)

Green (1)

Mosquito (2)

Blue (1)

Red (1)

Divebomb SINGLE, Megaflare

Teraflare

The (1) and (2) signify our strategy on which tanks take what. In this case (1) is our Warrior, (2) is our Paladin. Since we’ve discussed Divebombs, the adds abilities and what exactly to expect – lets move on to the more specific things about the zoo.

Overall Zoo strategy

The following table is an example of how WE did it, PLD and WAR can be interchanged. Tanks (1) & (2) can be interchanged after second divebomb, too.

Warrior (1)

Paladin (2)

Notes

DIVEBOMB

DIVEBOMB

+Megaflare. Heal to full, Succor shield.

Green

Red

Kill green ASAP.

Mosquito

-

Healers bait at middle. Do not bring near red.

Blue

Blue

Pile them up for value.

DIVEBOMB

DIVEBOMB

+Megaflare. Heal to full, Succor shield.

-

Twintania

Careful with Death Sentence!

Green

Mosquito

Kill green ASAP.

Blue

-

PILE ALL UP: VALUE OF HEAVENS.

Red

Blue alive? Paladin (2) provokes.

DIVEBOMB

DIVEBOMB

+Megaflare. Heal to full, Succor shield.

Teraflare

Teraflare

Use tank LB. Stay in Neurolink.

Zoo Notes

Divebomb SINGLE, Megaflare: This one’s a little special. Everyone EXCEPT red tank is stacked at A. This way, you at least minimize the chances of an “off center” divebomb by 7/8th. Remember while third dive is happening – the tank who picked up red is still taking significant damage.

Teraflare signals the end of this phase, and transition to final phase. It does an unbelievable amount of damage (85,000+). Using Tank LB3 (Last Bastion) is guaranteed survival. Tank LB2 (Mighty Guard) is okay with extreme (impractical) preparation. Oh, stay in the Neurolink dropped by Twintania – else you’re dead.

This is a timed phase so you don’t (CANNOT) rush this. Take your time in this phase to save as many offensive cooldowns as you can – the DPS race ends in the final phase.

Bahamut Prime Final Phase: Akh Morn

Akh Morn: The ultimate tank buster of FFXIV’s vanilla expansion, Akh Morn does tons of damage. It looks wonderful, too. Akh Morn begins by linking the current main tank and whoever is nearest to him/her. This tether causes any buffs to be shared (defensive ones come to mind). Akh Morn damage is shared by tethered guys. But, MT cannot be tethered to more than 1 person, so MT-OT tether is the way. Akh Morn has a first hit which does extreme damage, and many successive smaller hits. The first Akh Morn does 2, the second does 3, the third does 4 and so on.

There are many ways to deal with Akh Morn. Since you’ll be dealing with roughly 5 Akh Morns, you have to be prepared. Heres the different ways we do it:

Shared: Basic method, share the damage and heal through. Have both tanks use defensive CD’s.

Share+Holm(+cover): Share the first hit, Holmgang the little ones, and PLD cover once it’s done.

Twister/Tether: Similar to T8’s Homing Missle. TWO tethers spawn FROM Bahamut to TWO random non-tanks. Each tank must pick one up. People afflicted by tether MUST NOT BE CLOSE TO EACH OTHER.

Megaflare Upgrade (2nd Tower): Megaflare gets another upgrade – this time TWO towers spawn. Just a reminder, you must stay in a tower UNTIL you hear the explosion sound effect and see the visual. The check happens quite some time after it vanishes… if you leave too early, it’s a wipe. (Massive AoE damage and 8 bleeding debuffs) Just a reminder, shields on healer before mega can prevent some very niche cases of wiping.

Earthshaker Upgrade: Remember the pools that spawn? They last until the NEXT Earthshaker, so you have to be careful in placing them.

Gigaflare: The Gigaflares happen DURING this phase are EXTRAORDINARILY PAINFUL. You must SAVE SCH/SMN Virus for this, and be completely aware of it. If this slips through without mitigation – you WILL DIE. Remember the late checks? Well, it will punish you this time around.

After 14 minutes have passed, he will finish his current move and begin channeling the final Gigaflare. This has a 15 second cast time, and is the hard enrage timer. This Gigaflare will instakill your entire party. This is your last chance to kill him – first kills during Gigaflare cast isn’t uncommon back then!

THIS PHASE IS PRETTY MUCH PHASE 1 ALL OVER AGAIN – keep this in mind… and DO NOT PANIC. Expect a few wipes in this phase before you kill it. The tether mechanic can be tricky, and Akh Morn handling must be understood by BOTH your tanks… if they’re not in sync on what to do this phase will go very very badly. While your tanks might have gotten it easy up to this point, they gotta man up here.

Good luck – you’re going to need it. Bahamut Prime isn’t a pushover, and I don’t expect the Turn 13 boss to be one. Don’t get discouraged, and try not to lower your raids morale – as the FINAL BOSS, this guy will solidify your raidgroup and skills in time for Heavensward. Hopefully our Turn 13 guide will make killing Bahamut Prime a little less of a chore. See you there, Final Witness –